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Saturday, 30 May 2015

Fierce Females - Rumble In The Jungle results

Disclaimer: I didn't take notes last night for a personal reason. So this will be a shorter review than usual. However, expect plenty more Fierce Females related articles in the near future! Here are the results from Rumble In The Jungle.

Okay so as you all know I tend to focus on promoting the positives and mostly overlooking the negatives in these reviews. The night was billed as a night of wrestling supported by two band performances from Farewell Singapore and DIVIDES. I am a huge fan of local music, I promote gigs and highlight bands I think are great. I love gigs perhaps more than I love live wrestling. However, having seen it tried a few different ways, I just plain don't think music at wrestling shows work.

Specifically, the sound quality last night wasn't great where I was standing, and it took a while before Farewell Singapore started their set. It was nice enough for me, but it felt like the crowd were tolerating it more than enjoying it. I felt bad for the band as much as anything else. The most repeated comment I heard from many of the fans I chatted to during and after the show (asides from the fact that the overall event was incredible) was that they felt for a show that opened at 7:30pm to not have wrestling until something approaching 9pm didn't seem right.

I'm not going to judge however - perhaps there were scheduling issues, technical issues, who knows and who really cares - but from a fan perspective if there are going to be more live performances at future Fierce Females shows I would strongly suggest the band starting as the doors open and playing as everyone settles in to their first drink and finds their spot. Once in their spot and settled, the fans just really wanted the wrestling to start.

With that said.... our first match was the non-title bout between Kay Lee Ray and Kasey Owens. Now this was a great match to start things off with. Guest announcer Debay De Lux messed up her introduction of KLR, mis-pronouncing her name, which prompted the Fierce Females champion to grab the mic and chew out our guest. Fierce Females general manager Christopher Saynt then took to the mic and angrily told Kay Lee off for speaking to a guest in such a manner, stating that the match now carried a stipulation - the winner of the bout entered the main event battle royal at number 20 and the loser entered at number 1.

With the crowd firmly behind her, Kasey battled valiantly against Kay Lee Ray however the champion prevailed, grabbing Kasey's leg as she attempted a kick and hitting a modified Gory Bomb for the pinfall victory, with a fistful of trunks helping her secure the three count. Kay Lee now seemed safe with the #20 slot while Kasey Owens would now have to nurse her wounds and prepare to enter the Rumble first.

Second match kept things in high gear with Carmel Jacob & Sara-Marie Taylor (billed as representing Hardcore Glamour) vs Bete Noire & Viper. The theme of the match was chaos from both teams at points, however on the whole Hardcore Glamour were working as the more well-oiled team, with the ladies taking it in turn to attack their opponent while the other partner delivered verbal abuse from the apron, trying to get in their opponent's heads. The ending came as Viper seemed to have the match in the bag but was not the legal woman, Bete rather unceremoniously pushed her partner out of the way which understandably annoyed Viper, their in-fighting gave Carmel enough of an opening to grasp the pinfall victory over Bete.

Viper performing a running senton on Carmel

Now I will be the first to admit that with all three members of Hardcore Glamour having already wrestled, I felt like the 'main events' had already been. I was proven wrong as Yorkshire's own Ruby Summers faced off against Sammi Jayne and delivered what was easily match of the night in my eyes. My words will simply not do it justice, from the small touches like Ruby having scouted all of Sammi's big moves, to the louder moments like Ruby hitting an awe-inspiring Canadian Destroyer. After that however, Sammi managed to rally and hit a running cutter for the victory. As soon as this becomes available, seek it out to watch!

Our fourth match definitely kept the momentum going as fan-favourite Courtney took on the "Pocket Princess" Violet O'Hara in a bout that started sporting enough but Violet began introducing some cheeky wee cheapshots to make up for the size difference. Both women gave it their all, with Violet relying on an impressive guillotine chokehold while Courtney brought a variety of bridging suplexes to the party. The ending came as Courtney executed a beautiful half-and-half suplex (half nelson, half chickenwing) for the pinfall. Thankfully, the cheeky tension at the start of the match seemed to be left in the ring following an incredible sporting contest displaying all manner of great wrestling moves.

The penultimate match of the evening saw Leah Owens take on Violet Vendetta, who quickly endeared herself to the crowd by doling out hugs left, right and centre and then to Leah by giving her bum a cheeky wee squeeze. This match was all about the fun to begin with, but ending a serious as can be with Leah locking in a figure four leglock and elevating herself impressively, forcing Vendetta to tap out from the pressure.

Violet going in for a cheeky wee squeeze

The last singles match of the night saw Rhia O'Reilly hit the ring with an aggressive new look. Her opponent, Debbie Sharpe, then emerged with a megaphone saying that instead of #PrayForDebbie we should now be praying for Rhia to survive what Debbie was about to put her through. A great match followed with all sorts of stretching, bending and submission attempts but it was capped off with Rhia hitting the double-underhook DDT for the pinfall victory. After the match, Rhia stole Debbie's megaphone and left her beaten opponent to keep on praying, topping off a great run of matches to get us excited for the Rumble main event.

Top - Rhia bending Debbie (c) Craig Hermit

Bottom - Debbie bending Rhia (and herself) (c) David Wilson

During the break we were treated to some more music from the band DIVIDES. Maybe it was because we were already hyped from the amazing wrestling that had taken place, maybe there was more liquid courage involved, whatever the reason DIVIDES set was appreciated a bit more by the crowd. There was still audible exasperation when it was announced that the band had two more songs to play, having already played several, but I have to stress that both bands performed admirably in front of a rather lukewarm crowd so kudos to them.

With that out of the way, it was now time for the main event, the Twenty Woman Over The Top Rope Battle Royal to determine the Fierce Females champion. Every 60 seconds a woman would enter and the only way to exit would be over the top rope with both feet touching the ground. Christopher Saynt relieved Debay of her MCing duties and taking over the calling of the match.

The main event was a non-stop action affair that I wouldn't be able to do justice but here is a rundown of the entry and exit orders and a brief recap of the action anyways!

Entrant (1) Kasey Owens started off against (2) Bete Noire, with (3) Viper soon joining in and immediately teaming up with her friend and tag partner Bete to take it to Kasey as the crowd cheered on all three women. The split cheering from the crowd continued throughout the whole contest and up next was (4) Violet O'Hara followed by (5) Debbie Sharpe. (5) Debbie Sharpe [1] was our first elimination, being sent on her way by Bete Noire, but this wouldn't be the last we'd hear from Debbie.

(6) Ruby Summers was next in followed by (7) Violet Vendetta who once again treated the crowd to many hugs, including leaping into the arms of yours truly. Almost a year to the day that Kid Fite tea-bagged me in Edinburgh, wrestlers still seem to gravitate towards me in a not entirely welcomed physical manner. Must be something about my face I guess?

Anyway, (7) Violet Vendetta [2] was swiftly sent packing by Ruby. This was followed by the entrances of (8) Miss Lucy Cole and (9) the masked wrestler Black Widow. Before we had a chance to ponder who Black Widow was, she found herself tossed out by Viper, making (9) Black Widow [3] the third woman eliminated and leaving six in the ring, with Bete and Viper dominating proceedings.

(10) Emily Hayden was out next to a surprisingly ferocious crowd reaction. At this point everyone, myself included, were simply excited by all the action we were seeing unfold and I think genuinely we wanted everyone to win in some small way. Almost simultaneously Kasey Owens eliminated (8) Miss Lucy Cole [4]. (11) Fiona Fraser was next to enter the ring, followed by the demonic (12) Layla Rose.

Layla Rose (c) Craig Hermit

Easily the most monstrous member of the Fierce Females roster, Layla wasted no time in unceremoniously eliminating (10) Emily Hayden [5], (11) Fiona Fraser [6] and (4) Violet O'Hara [7]. The Barbie Breaker continues her reign of destruction.

Entrant number (13) was another masked wrestler Black Scorpion, who bore a striking resemblance to both Black Widow and Debbie Sharpe. The fact that she wore a Debbie Sharpe tshirt also kind of struck a chord with most of the crowd. However entrants number (14) Leah Owens and especially (15) Sammi Jayne, who is usually best friends with Debbie, didn't seem to be in on the joke/ruse.

Sammi wasted little time in eliminating (13) Black Scorpion [8] and tore off her mask on the apron, revealing it to in fact be Debbie. Debbie then lost her cool completely and eliminated (15) Sammi Jayne [9] with the two "BAEs" scrapping their way to the back. I think this spells the end of that friendship.

(16) Rhia O'Reilly was next in, with Layla Rose eliminating (2) Bete Noire [10]. This signalled to the Owens Twins that something had to be done about the monster, and they teamed up to eliminate (12) Layla Rose [11], with Kasey Irish whipping her towards Leah who held the top rope down. They repeated the feat to get rid of (16) Rhia O'Reilly [12] leaving us with Kasey (first), Viper (third), Ruby (sixth) and Leah (fourteenth) remaining, an impressive feat from the three early entrants. All four women battled on as (17) Courtney made her entrance, with (6) Ruby Summers [13] then finding herself eliminated by Courtney.

Sara (c) Craig Hermit

Entrant number (18) Sara decided to park herself at ringside and await the rest of Hardcore Glamour. (19) Carmel and (20) Kay Lee Ray arrived and the three entered the ring together. Amazingly, despite the numbers being against them, Hardcore Glamour did not find themselves on the wrong end of a four woman beatdown. Instead, in a shocking turn of events, after a long time of battling around the ring with everyone, Leah eliminated (1) Kasey Owens [14] in a moment that left all minds blown and only six women left in the ring.

Courtney then managed to eliminate (18) Sara [15] to a loud gasp from many in the crowd who had pegged Sara as their favourite to win. From there, Carmel and Kay Lee decided to team up and avenge their partner, eliminating (17) Courtney [16] with Carmel following this up by taking out (14) Leah Owens [17], leaving herself, Kay Lee Ray and Viper remaining.

There was no doubt in the majority of the crowd's mind - the cheers for Viper were deafening. As KLR and Carmel teamed up against the bigger woman, Kay Lee saw an opportunity and struck, eliminating partner (19) Carmel [18] and seemingly shattered their relatively recently formed alliance in the process. As Carmel battled with security outside to try and get back in the ring to seek revenge, so too did Viper battle against the champion, finally managing to hoist (20) Kay Lee Ray (19) up high and throw her out over the top rope, on top of Carmel, to claim the Fierce Females championship as her own.

Viper

The crowd were, quite simply, in rapture. Here was a woman who had put so much on the line for this company. She was there at the start, battling through the crowds. She had smacked her best friend against a steel post. She had wrestled 14 times across only nine shows, came achingly close to winning it all so often. She had the crowd on her side, the strength in her body and frankly the right attitude to lead the company. I spoke to a few people in the crowd who had never attended a Fierce Females event before, during the Rumble I asked them who they felt could win it and they all could see that Viper (amongst a few others) had "it", but Viper was the one name they all mentioned.

With tears streaming down her face at finally gaining the title and recognition that comes with being the Fierce Females champion, Viper was joined in the ring by her friend Bete Noire, with all earlier antagonism gone with a hug and a cheer.

But then things turned violent.

Bete Noire (c) Craig Hermit

Bete held Viper's arm aloft, looked at the belt, and struck Viper down with it. She took to the microphone. "Can you hear me now?" she said, going off on a deranged monologue. She is sick of being overlooked, living in Viper's shadow. They trained together for the same amount of time, travelled the wrestling world together, fought against and besides each other, yet it is Viper who is always getting the cheers. The crowd's noise amplified as Bete went on, the rage of 12 straight losses rising up within her. She would no longer live in Viper's shadow. Her friend may have won the title, but to Bete this would be her time. It was finally time for the world to see her, to recognise her, to hear her.

"Can you hear me now?"

Viper eventually rose to her feet and with thunderous applause left the ring. It was a night of many ups and downs for her but one thing remains clear - she is the champion, she is the face and forefront of Fierce Females, and she is the right woman to carry the company forward.

Aftermath: With the announcement being made that the next Fierce Females show is not until the 30th October, I'm sure there will be plenty of time for reflection, anticipation, words shared between Kay Lee Ray and Carmel, Leah and Kasey Owens, Debbie and Sammi and of course Bete and Viper. Last night was a night where friendships and alliances broke down as every woman pursued the ultimate goal. But one woman stood atop of that hill. Viper is the champion. Long live Viper.